SXSW Film Festival Reco 2002

The SXSW Film Festival 2002 has arrived. The Festival begins today, March 8, and continues through next Saturday, March 16. Premiering around town over the next nine days will be a wide selection of narrative features, documentaries, short films, music videos, and retrospectives. These categories are further broken down into films in competition and noncompetitive sidebars, special all-shorts programs, midnight programs, and retrospectives of the careers of John Sayles, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Lloyd Kaufman, and Albert Maysles. Also, many of the filmmakers will be in attendance to discuss their movies during post-screening Q&As. Peter Bogdanovich will be in attendance at the opening-night screening of his new film The Cat's Meow ; the closing-night advance screening of Blade 2 will have director Guillermo del Toro in the audience. In this issue of the Chronicle, there's a detailed eight-page pullout section -- in addition to all the articles, interviews, and critics' picks highlighted in the regular Screens section -- that provides comprehensive program descriptions, schedules, admission info, and more. Check it out. The Festival's selections offer something for everyone (although keep in mind that virtually none of these films have MPAA ratings guidelines). And stay tuned to austinchronicle.com for additional coverage. Festivals this good only come once a year, so get out and enjoy. Screenings are at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, Austin Convention Center, Arbor Theatre, Paramount Theatre, the Hideout, and the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex.